Just Rewards!

We’ve been putting in a few long days over the last week or so, but, as is right and proper, we are being rewarded for it!

Last week we started work in a new school, the Holy Family School in Cootehill, Co. Cavan. It is a special needs school, and we are always delighted to be asked to work with anyone with disabilities, because music seems to be a popular choice with the participants. We enjoy it too, and we were given a great big Cavan (and Monaghan) welcome! We are working with six classes in the school, about 70 kids in all, and so far so good, we’re off to a flying start!

However, it is a very early start to be up there ready to go for 930am, but at least the mornings are bright, and we get to pass through some lovely countryside on the way.

At the moment, between the Holy Family, our own Youth Project, St. James’s Primary School and our Music Generation Wicklow project in Greystones, we are delivering 17 workshops over Thursdays and Fridays, working with over 200 people in the process – it’s pretty tiring, but at least we enjoy the work!

All this effort has brought us some good fortune too. Yesterday, we learned that Fingal County Council are exempting our new storage facility in Skerries from rates, which is going to save us about €1700 a year. In addition, Geraldine O’Hara from the rates office there processed the request free of charge, as it is an interim short-term measure. We will have to apply properly in a couple of years, but for now we are delighted with the support.

This is how our van is going to look after the weekend, courtesy of Horizon Digital Print – very smart!

True to their word, Horizon made sure that the van turned out exactly as planned!

Also, this evening, we dropped our van out to Horizon Digital Print in Blanchardstown, who are doing some stickers for our van at a very special price. This is something we’ve wanted to get done since buying the van at the end of last year, and this is the only window we will have to do it over the next few weeks, so it’s all good!!

Small charities like us wouldn’t be able to operate with these supports, and we are ever grateful for them.

About Simeon

Masamba Samba School is Ireland's premier Afro-Brasilian music and dance group.